Don't Overlook Google Maps When Searching For Fishing Spots.

Last week I was searching for some areas closer to my house were I could go fishing.  I have been to every lake and small fishing hole around my area, and every place I go is a thirty to forty-five minute drive away. Getting to the lake and finding your usual spot already occupied or not catching anything can be disappointing.  So I decided to start searching for obscure ponds on conservation land that were closer to home and that many people may not know about or want to try to walk to.  I started searching google maps and bingo I found three that I never even knew were there. 

The first pond looked great on google maps, and was only about ten minutes from my house.  After walking in to the area about a half of a mile, disappointment set in.  What was once about a three acre pond was now almost dried up and where it wasn't dry there was no way to access the area and it was covered in a thick moss. Time to head to the next one.

The second pond was small but full of water. The second pond ended up being not much more than a frog pond, but could probably provide some good gigging action when frog season comes around. Time to head to the next one.

The third pond was about three acres, I had driven by this area many times fishing at a nearby lake and never even knew it was there.  The pond is surrounded by woods on three sides but has good access all the way around.  I took some minnows with me to find out as quickly as possible if the pond held any fish.  About two minutes after my first cast I was bringing in a nice bass.  Question answered the pond has fish.  I  cast up next to a fallen tree and within thirty seconds I brought in a nice nine inch black crappie.  By the time I had caught a few more crappie it was about too dark to see so I headed back to the car excited to have found such a great place.  While I was loading my gear a guy came out of the woods and started talking to me.  He told me that up further in the woods there was another pond that he was fishing at that holds a ton of 7-8in bluegill.  After speaking with him for a few minutes he told me how he had lived in the area his whole life and only found out about the ponds last year and never sees anyone fishing at them. 

I went back to the pond Monday night and fished for about three hours.  I took my brother and nephew with me and we caught a bunch of nice size white and black crappie. We didn't keep any because the females were full of eggs and we figured it would be better to let them finish spawning to ensure the next class of fish were able to be caught in the future.   In those three hours we didn't see another person.  On my next trip out there I will venture a little further into the woods and try to find the other pond, and I will take some pictures of the fish to show here on the blog.

When your searching for fishing holes don't forget to check out areas using google maps.  Some of the places will probably end up being like the first two ponds I went to, but finding an obscure fishing hole that not many people know about is worth having to look at a few bad ones.